Recently, surface scattering antennas and other such radio-frequency devices have been disclosed that use a liquid crystal (LC)-based metamaterial element as part of the device. In the case of antennas, the LCs have been used as part of the antenna elements for tuning the antenna element. The performance of such devices is dependent, at least in part, on the LC that is used. Therefore, it is desirable to develop LCs that have properties that improve the performance of the devices that use them.